Nursing Goes High-Tech to Help Area Hospitals

The state-of-the-science Smart Hospital provides a lifelike setting for area medical personnel to be trained or re-credentialed.

As the School of Nursing's Smart Hospital helps integrate innovative simulation strategies into training nurses, the benefits of such technology reach far beyond the classroom.

Two area hospitals—Medical Center of Arlington and Children's Medical Center-Dallas—are sending their health care providers and emergency responders to the Smart Hospital to be trained or re-credentialed. These professionals benefit from the latest technologies and state-of-the-science computerized manikins and other equipment as well as the nursing faculty's knowledge and skills.

For example, the transport team from Children's Medical Center-Dallas has used the Smart Hospital for re-certification training, while nurse practitioners from Children's Medical Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit have used the facility to practice resuscitation and invasive skills.

We found it to be a good experience because we could watch our performance and critique it ourselves, said Lisa Milonovich, pediatric critical care nurse practitioner and team leader with Children's Medical Center-Dallas. It was a way to have a realistic practice of procedures we don't get to perform regularly in the clinical setting.

The Smart Hospital is a leader in simulation-based teaching/learning and is designated as a Laerdal Center of Excellence in Simulation, a Hill-Rom National Demonstration Showcase and The Cardinal Health Nursing Discovery Center.

School Lends Expertise to Emerging City

The School of Urban and Public Affairs celebrated its 40th anniversary this year by doing exactly what it was created to do: helping urban communities solve problems. Kennedale Mayor Bob Hart, for one, is grateful. SUPA professors and graduate students worked with the emerging Metroplex town to identify growth and development issues. Through a citizen survey and focus groups, the students gathered input to serve as a blueprint for Kennedale officials to foster the kind of development their residents want. The teams suggested the best approach to take and identified not only the issues, but the stumbling blocks we may encounter in conducting our strategic plan, Hart said.

Outreach Offers Hope for Abused Children

The School of Social Work's New Connections Programs teaches skills to parents and children affected by alcohol and drug abuse. A platform for research, student education and service, it supports recovery, strengthens knowledge of child development and addresses difficult parent-child issues like drug and alcohol use, child abuse and fetal alcohol syndrome. We are excited to work as partners with an organization with a demonstrated record of effective intervention initiatives, said Associate Professor Debra Woody, the program's primary investigator. New Connections provides services to Dallas County residents at its Dallas location on Butler Street and at the Parkland women's clinic in Oak Cliff.

Information Gold Mine Awaits Library Patrons

Each year, thousands of guests visit the Library at UT Arlington for everything from research assistance to reading government documents, newspapers, books, magazines and more. Through educational programs, reference help and a vast electronic database, the Library serves patrons throughout the state, nation and world, including numerous K-12 students and teachers. As a selected federal government document depository, it houses more than 900,000 items and has access to more than 230,000 electronic publications. The Special Collections division is a repository for personal, family, and business and organizational records for the shared memory of Texas and its people.

Quality Programs Promote Lifelong Learning

When human resources manager Elaine Woodall needed corporate training, she turned to the Division for Enterprise Development for help. It's such a pleasure to be able to contact this group, explain exactly what my organization needs and know that I am getting the best quality, said Woodall, who works for the Infrastructure Logistics Division at Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc. The Division for Enterprise Development provides high-quality courses and programs that foster learning for adults and children. Offerings include training in health care, career development, technology and personal enrichment. In addition, the division is the largest training provider to some of the state's biggest employers, including the Texas Department of Transportation.